Ultrarunning, traveling, writing, and adventures from the RD of the Burning Man Ultramarathon.

04 May 2012

Pigeon Nesting

I have a small fire escape and it serves as my garden. This year, I'm expanding and planting tomatoes, peppers, cukes, basil (LOTS), sage, parsley, cilantro, flowers, and some other things I forgot.

Wayne was pulling in pots for me to dig in when he said, "Oh...oh...tail feathers!" I immediately thought there was a dead bird on the fire escape and said, "Get rid of it! Just get rid of it!"

"No..." he said, a bit of awe in his voice. "It's a mother. A mother bird and her nest. A pigeon."

Like any good New Yorker, I know what pigeons really are. They are rats with wings. Rats in the air or on the ground, both gross.

"Ugh!"

"Why?"

"Wayne, I don't want it in our teeny garden. I'm afraid it's going to fly in, and it's also going to crap on everyone's heads as they enter and leave the building."

Wayne shook his head. "You're right."

I didn't want to kill the egg; I just wanted it someplace else. Wayne went out with a broom to try to scare the bird away. The pigeon tried to attack the broom.We have a stupid pigeon nesting on our fire escape.Sometimes, urban wildlife sucks.

3 comments:

I have a pigeon that has nested on my balcony. There are huge piles of shit everywhere. Like you, I couldn't be responsible for murdering birds, so I left them be.

Baby pigeons are really cute....... Even though they will grow up to be nasty poo monsters. When the babies are gone I am going to put on my hazmat suit and see if the balcony can be saved. In the mean time, I'm fortunate enough to have two other balconies and a roof- top terrace.:-D

I think pigeon crap is toxic, so wear gloves when you clean it. I think huge amounts of it are toxic, the little bit you're dealing with is probably not terrible, but just in case. Although I can't imagine you're using your bare hands and reveling in it!! ;)

Otherwise, birds are actually a HUGE benefit to gardens, because they eat insects that would otherwise destroy your plants. I'm always happy to see birds in and among my plants; they have never damaged anything and in fact have probably saved some of them! And I've read lots of articles that encourage people to hang feeders near gardens in order to attract birds.

And at the risk of being an annoyance, I do just have to say that every creature has a purpose on the planet :)